What Our Cities Can Offer After Natural Disasters

Abstract The importance of open green spaces in cities is increasing every day. These areas are the air supply of cities and citizens and have an important place in the urban fabric due to the roles they assume after disasters. The earthquake studies in Turkey have accelerated after the Marmara earthquake in 1999 due to which 18373 people had lost their lives. After the earthquake, the importance of open green spaces that can be used for sheltering, housing and evacuation purposes has become clear and their deficiency has attracted attention. The study aims to reveal ana analyze the functions that will be assumed by open green spaces after an earthquake in the central district of Bingol, a city in the first-degree seismic zone in Turkey, the carrying capacity and locations of the green spaces and their adequacy using different analysis methods. The study firstly examines the importance and adequacy of the open urban green spaces with respect to rapid urbanization-induced intense housing. In the second stage, we discussed the concept of earthquake and to what degree implications of a disaster are taken into consideration when planning green spaces in the urban fabric. Lastly, the central district of Bingol was selected as an exemplary case and the open green spaces that will be used after an earthquake were determined and their adequacy was analyzed.